


The rarity of a good sleep.

by uncontrollablyyours



Series: my world is dust without you [6]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: BatCat, F/M, Late night thoughts, i love them so much hihi, the TRINITY!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27206471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uncontrollablyyours/pseuds/uncontrollablyyours
Summary: Bruce finds that a good night’s sleep comes quite rare.
Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Series: my world is dust without you [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2194788
Kudos: 25





	The rarity of a good sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I hope you're all well! This is really just a lot of word vomit which I've been meaning to write for so long now. Thanks to the new set pics of Rob and Zoe as BatCat, though, this came easily by itself. So excited for The Batman (2022).

Bruce finds that a good night’s sleep comes quite rare.

Being Batman, he literally lives a nocturnal life. The pressure of the cape and the cowl places a burden of exhaustion constantly looming by his shoulders, and he’s gotten so used to it that is fails to bother him anymore. The thought of a peaceful sleep lingers in the back of his mind, but deep down he doesn’t long for it as much as he used to.  
Looking up at the ceiling, he thinks of this. He thinks of how rare these slumbers come, and how painful it is to wake up the next morning knowing that it will take long before he gets another again. 

He remembers the first. The first in a long time. The first good sleep since his parents died. It was a long day. He had only recently adopted Dick—he himself was young and not at all ready to be a dad. Dick Grayson had been difficult. He fussed and threw tantrums and said words he didn’t mean. He was a child. Bruce had been stressed for the past few weeks more than ever. In turn, Batman was more present in Gotham’s alleys and avenues, because seeing Dick at the manor drained him more than donning the mask. After long conversations with Alfred, awkward dinners, and more tantrums, he was finding it hard to sleep. He was looking up at the ceiling—just like he was doing now, he supposed—head propped on one arm and deeply thinking when all of a sudden a scream emerged from the opposite room. Bruce was quick to move, and entered Dick’s room without any pretense. The boy’s forehead was slick with sweat, his chest heaving, and that look on his face… Bruce had memorized that same expression. 

He ran over and held the boy to his chest, pulling him in. “Dick, its okay,” he said repeatedly. “Its okay, its okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.” Once he had calmed down, Bruce sat beside him. Dick’s cheeks were slightly red with embarrassment.

“I used to have the same kind of dreams, you know.” He had told him. Dick didn’t believe him at first. But Bruce then told him about those nights when he dreamt about the gun, the pearls, the alley. He remembered the same routine—the waking up, the sweat, the tears. Dick listened in disbelief as the man he felt so distant from suddenly felt so close. Bruce listened to Dick that night as he told him about the nightmare that never seemed to leave him at night, the fear he had of going to sleep. 

“Go to sleep, Dick,” Bruce told him as he pulled the big cushioned chair to the bedside. “I’ll be right here.” 

Bruce’s neck was stiff as a pole the next morning, but God was it the best sleep he had had in years.  
Bruce smiles at this. He remembers all the times he had argued with Diana and Clark about him having adopted a young child and letting him tag along with a mask and a cape. The League was tense during those times. 

Looking back, the League was a point of much influence for Bruce, even if he would hate to admit it. His reluctant presence is already a common room that the League comfortably, even teasingly, occupies. But deep down, he recognizes the pleasure of working with equals who aspire for a similar goal. Even despite the many, many arguments over different things. 

Bruce had always been used to Alfred’s silent understanding of his pain, but oftentimes, he forgot that other people could understand him too. He would never admit it to Clark and Diana, God knows they wouldn’t let him forget it, but he always felt understood when he was with them. New members of the League would often get annoyed at his typical Batman-ness (it would take time to get used to), but he never missed the little smiles and glances that Clark and Diana shared at their complaints. He smiles at the thought of realizing that his two best friends are an alien and an Amazon. It took time, of course, but once they reached that point, Bruce knows that he never will to explain himself to them. 

He was well aware that one of the nights of good sleep was due to the two of them. It was the time he just got shot at the charity event he held for Gotham’s refugees, and obviously a high profile city gang who had the resources to hire Floyd Lawton didn’t share the same respect for un-American lives. Clark instantly flew in from Metropolis with Diana at his side, both fussing over him like a kid. It was an absurd thought, but he couldn’t help but be reminded of the way his parents used to do the same in the past. 

“I suggest we take him to the Fortress, its safe, unknown—“

“The Fortress has all my respect, Clark, but I don’t think the living conditions there are really fit for a recuperating man—“

“Will you two stop making this a big deal? I need to be here in Gotham, I’m not leaving—“

He wasn’t a guy easily thrown off, but the look the two threw at him was more intimidating than he thought they could be capable of.

He ended up staying in Clark’s parents’ home all the way in Kansas, and albeit the small bed of Clark’s childhood bedroom, it was a night of high-quality sleep. 

He ponders over this as he stares at the ceiling of Wayne Manor’s master bedroom. These nights of quality sleep came rare… or at least, they used to. Recently, despite the hardships of his alter-ego life, those deep slumbers came more frequently than they used to. He was sure—perfectly positive—that was due to the slender body in his bed which had been staying at his side.

“God, bats are really nocturnal, aren't they,” Selina’s sleepy voice said, with a hint of endearing annoyance. “Are you seriously still up after all the things we’ve done tonight?” 

Bruce was unsure if she was referring to the sex or the operations they disturbed earlier that evening. Maybe both. 

“I’m just thinking.”

“Yeah, I know. Do you know that I can hear you?”

“You can hear me think?”

“Sort of. You breathe different. I can hear that. I can’t believe I can, but I do.” She props her head up on her shoulder to look at him. Bruce can’t help but stare at that exquisite face of hers. Selina is obviously not a bit thrown off—she returns the steady gaze. 

“I didn’t think I was capable of knowing someone that well.” her voice is soft, but clear. 

Bruce’s hands find her waist. “I didn’t think that I was, either.”

She rests her head on his chest, purring like a cat. “So what were you so busy thinking about that cost you your sleep, which you already get so little of?”

“Ironically enough, I was thinking of sleep.”

Selina looks up at him, a smile playing on her lips. “What about it?”

“I’m sure… I’m sure you understand. The rarity of a good sleep.”

Selina smiles. “Of course. They come rare. Harder to steal than a diamond.”

“They’ve come far more frequently now, though, don’t you think?” He looks down at her, and finds her staring at him. “There are still some difficult nights, maybe more than some… but it’s nice waking up like this. Falling asleep like this.”

She smiles. The look in her eyes… Bruce knows she feels the same way. “I’m taking this as an invitation to sleep in your bed anytime I please.”

“You no longer have the choice not to, Cat. You’re marrying me, remember?”

Selina laughs. It’s a beautiful sound. “Oh yeah, right. I nearly forgot.”

Bruce sleeps well that night. The problems of tomorrow are still lurking out there, waiting for him to come and solve. But in this room, with her at his side, all is well.

**Author's Note:**

> I just reread one of my favorites, Injustice 2 Annual 2. There are ideas here which were heavily inspired from it. :)


End file.
